The Life of the Spider 



here and there. The result is a scanty and 

 disordered scaffolding. 



Is disordered the word? Perhaps not. 

 The Epeira's eye, more experienced in mat- 

 ters of this sort than mine, has recognized 

 the general lie of the land; and the rope- 

 fabric has been erected accordingly : it is very 

 inaccurate in my opinion, but very suitable 

 for the Spider's designs. What is it that she 

 really wants? A solid frame to contain the 

 network of the web. The shapeless structure 

 which she has just built fulfils the desired con- 

 ditions: it marks out a flat, free and perpen- 

 dicular area. This is all that is necessary. 



The whole work, for that matter, is now 

 soon completed; it is done all over again, each 

 evening, from top to bottom, for the incidents 

 of the chase destroy it in a night. The net is 

 as yet too delicate to resist the desperate 

 struggles of the captured prey. On the other 

 hand, the adults' net, which is formed of 

 stouter threads, is adapted to last some time; 

 and the Epeira gives it a more carefully- 

 constructed frame-work, as we shall see 

 elsewhere. 



A special thread, the foundation of the 

 real net, is stretched across the area so capri- 



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